The Last Hero
by JRCBROOLZ
Summary: In a futuristic land of Hyrule, that's already been under Ganondorf's reign for seven years, all is fear and repression. The hope of the people rests with infammous Zelda and her Free Hylian Alliance, a rebel group aposing Ganondorf. The future of Hyrule waits on a hero who shall rise, the last of Demise's endless spell. The Last Hero. This is currently on hiatus.
1. Foreword

**The Legend Of Zelda The Last Hero**

Foreword

This is an idea that's been in my head for a while, of a futuristic Hyrule, where Ganondorf has already become King, and the land is a place of repression. Zelda is the leader of a rebel group, attempting to bring peace, and justice to Hyrule. Link is a goat herder even in the future. If there's anyone or anything you think I should include, please leave a comment.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

**AN/ Trying to get a storyline into the first chapter, more action later on, will update as often as possible.**

The goats bleated as Link leaned against the fence post, running a rag down his sword. On every stroke the rag caught on the serrated edge of the left side of the blade, while sliding down the right. Most people preferred the force spears salvaged from the old Hylian Guard barracks in the forest outskirts, though that was just an area of rusting steel, broken bricks, and burnt and scorched foliage with no trees. Still no life in that area, even though it had been seven years since it had been destroyed. Seven years of trouble and death, under the reign of the _Great King _Ganondorf, only King from seizing the power from the Royal family, supposedly the entire family was dead, but rumour said the daughter of the old King, Princess Zelda, was leading a rebel force, but that was just rumour.

He'd been ten at the time. He remembered seeing waves of forces flying overhead as he craned his neck, Royal Guard's skiffs manned by heavy armour soldiers, their famed armour glinting black in the Sun. Everyone called them darknuts these days, they were no longer a symbol of protection, but of repression. Dozens of the skiffs had passed some into the forest, some towards the barracks, each holding ten soldiers.

The sounds of blaster fire, and explosions echoed over the trees from within the forest. The skiffs flew back overhead around four hours later, to a backdrop of black smoke billowing into the sky.

The search parties sent out the next day found the fires still burning, and not one Kokiri left in what used be their village, alive that is. There were only ever around three dozen of them. Link remembered playing with some of them in the forest as a kid. Though they would remain kids forever, meaning they had more time to practice playing tag. Link always lost. Though they didn't remain kids after all. As a people the Kokiri were gone. Dead.

The great tree in the centre of the forest, the Great Deku Tree was completely burnt down, only a stump remaining. Link himself had gone to see about two years ago. He had found great areas devoid of trees, just burnt ground. The further into the forest, the more sickly the trees looked, all yellow, with sap leaking out. It was like it was spreading outwards. The entire forest was just…. Dying.

Here on the edge of the forest, the trees and plant life had been fine, until five months ago when it had reached them. All their crops and farming had been affected, Link continued to worry about the grass and feeding the herd of goats, they were an important source of food, of milk, cheese, and meat. With the farms doing badly, everyone was relying on the goats. Food was getting scarcer.

Link sighed, putting the rag in his pocket, and slid his sword into the sheathe on his back.

He checked his watch, which showed half past seven, he'd guessed as much from the fading light in the sky.

He had a headset on his head, a band of metal stretching the whole way round his head, containing a communicator, a torch, and resting on top, his visor. He'd paid an extra hundred rupees for some special features. It had five buttons, thermal on/off, night vision on/off, zoom in, zoom out, and record.

He pushed the visor over his eyes, and clicked the heat vision before looking over the area. The dozens of goats showed up as orange/yellow shapes, and up the hill was his brother Anjay, leaning on his spear, the point of which glowed an eerie white.

'Slacking as usual,' he said into thin air, his communicator picking it up easily. He chuckled as Anjay jerked up straight immediately after hearing his voice.

'Look I'm tired bro, it's getting late. I think we should head the goats back to the village soon,' Anjay's voice sounded in Link's earpiece.

'Sure. I'm just doing a thermal sweep, start gathering the herd.' It was a twenty minute walk back to Ordon with the goats, and Link wanted the herd safely in the barns, he was uneasy for some reason.

He looked over the area, seeing nothing but the bodies of the goats, and the inky purple, and blackness behind them. Beyond the fence he was next to was the dark blue, coldness of the forest, except for a red blob of heat around three hundred yards away. Highly unusual, it was too small to be a bokoblin; they had plenty of attacks from the purple monsters, dumb as they were.

Link pressed the zoom in button, once again thankful for the extra features he paid for, it was a small ruddy orange blob, about the size of a small child, it had to be a living thing, too small for a bokoblin, or a stalfos, and stalchildren and the legendary skull kid had no body heat.

'Anjay I got something down by the North fence, heat source. Not sure what it is, I'm going for a look,' Link spoke into his communicator, while drawing his sword, he was used to defending the herd from monster attacks, though he preferred fighting with a shield, unfortunately his got mangled a while back.

'Ok Link, I'll round up the herd. Be careful bro.' Anjay was being serious, which was a good thing in case this was something dangerous. It was a pain in the neck to round up an entire herd of scared, and scattered goats.

Link sprinted alongside the fence, before vaulting it. He flipped his visor up, and turned his torch on, flooding everything in front of him in white light.

Just by the trees, he saw what the heat source was. A Deku scrub was lying face down in the grass. There was an arrow sticking in his back.

Link pulled the slider down a notch on his headpiece by his ear, tuning to the village frequency.

'This is Link, we need the doctor on the North field now, I've got a wounded Deku scrub, he's been attacked by something.'

A reply came quickly from the night shift guard, Sean, 'Ok I'll send Doc Malo up there in her speeder, we'll keep the frequency open.'

Link reached the scrub, wondering what it was doing this far from their colony, in the far North of the forest. They were extremely territorial, they hated anyone coming near their colony.

He dropped to one knee, and rolled the scrub over. He was bleeding badly. He was shocked to see him grasping the spear and shield of the Royal Deku guard, they never left the colony.

The guy was in a bad way, but still breathing, his eyes flickering to see Link, his mouth kept opening and closing, like he was trying to talk.

'What happened to you?' Link questioned, completely confused as to why this guy was here.

The scrub breathed in, and with difficulty spoke softly 'The colony… they came,' he coughed up some blood before continuing, 'they… they're coming this way… it's raiders, from the desert.'

Link's heart turned to ice.

He spoke quickly to his communicator, 'Sean code red, we got raiders coming through the forest, don't know how soon.'

'Oh Mother of Din, we need to arm the village, get the scrub, and get the goats back to the village now! Keep your eyes on the forest, we'll try and arm as many people as we can,' Sean knew what he was doing, he'd make sure the villagers were ready.

'Anjay,' Link said as he picked up the Deku scrub up, hoping his brother had been listening.

'I heard Link, I got the goats together, I'm starting to head 'em back, hurry up with the scrub, I can see the doc.'

Link was already climbing the fence, thankful for the fact that he always stayed in shape. The guy had passed out in his arms. It would take a big threat to force a scrub this far from the colony, they never let stuff get close to the colony, especially since their numbers were dwindling, they were attuned to the forest, and were suffering with it. For a guy to come out this far, a royal guard no less, the threat was bad.

Light shone on the hill, Anjay was pushing the herd back to Ordon.

Link was running flat out, perspiring a bit, making his green shirt stick to his muscled chest.

Yellow lights came up to meet him as Malo arrived on her white speeder, she was a good doctor, she'd fix the scrub up, but right now Link was more worried about the raiders coming. That probably meant green bokoblins, the taller, thinner, intelligent versions of their purple cousins. They rode on huge boars, one rider, one shooter on each, usually with some form of ranged weapon.

A group of six boars, and twenty foot warriors had come about a year and a half ago, no-one had died, but one house had been near demolished, and plenty of people hurt.

Malo pulled up, and smiled slightly, her face framed in brown hair.

'Put him on the back, I'll strap him in and take him back to the village. Go join your brother, get the goats back, they're our best source of food. We can't afford to lose them.' She told him quickly.

Link nodded, set the scrub on the speeder, and sprinted up the remainder of the hill to his brother. They looked very similar, except Link had their father's blond hair, while Anjay shared their mother's blond. Both of them were slightly tanned on their skin, showing the fact they worked many hours in the open air, under the Sun.

Anjay looked a little scared, he'd had only rudimentary training with his spear, he was nowhere near as skilled as Link, he'd never fought monsters before, he had decent reason to be scared.

'Don't worry. We'll fend 'em off,' Link said reassuredly, smiling slightly as they set off for Ordon. AN/ End of the first chapter, will update soon, please review. 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**AN/ Promised action in this chapter, and Rose-Pheonix00, you were close to some of my ideas, I won't give anything away, except it has something to do with darknuts. This will be my only work for the next two days, as I'm going to be enjoying the Jubilee, Long Live the Queen, and her Bank Holidays**

Link's breath crystalized in front of him, in the cold night air, creating a little white mist in the torch light.

He stood next to Sean at the North Village entrance, looking at the hills that stood between them, and the forest. Everything looked neon green through his visor, not that it helped over that distance. The terrain was against them in this way, the hills stood in the way of their line of sight. Even from the watchtower, a thin metal structure in the middle of the village, there was no clear sight, even with thermal vision, there would be very little warning as to when they would arrive, or what their numbers they held.

Scouts were possible, but a bad idea. They would easily be able to see, and report the size of the raider's host, and when they would arrive, but the job would be suicide. If they weren't caught on the open ground, they would certainly never make it back to Ordon before the raiders caught up, that was their preferred method, lightening attacks, to catch people off guard, but the villagers knew they were coming, so they had an advantage there.

'They'll hit hard 'n fast, try to leave us reeling, and open for the easy kill. And they'll probably come from the North-East, it's the flattest terrain for those boars. The flatter ground means we'll see 'em earlier though. I think we should put someone on Solomon's roof, it would be a good position for a sniper, does you think anyone has a sniper's rifle?' Link couldn't help but voice himself.

Sean looked at him, like he was recalculating his effectiveness.

'You got a good tactical head on those shoulders of yours. We've got no snipers, but I'm sure someone will have a long range blaster rifle somewhere. Pete's got the best sharpshooter skills, we'll put him up there, nice idea kid.' Sean seemed impressed.

Sean was about to move off and find Pete, when Sam, the gangly fifteen year old in the watchtower with some thermal goggles started shouting.

'Hey. Thermal signs, huge. To the North East, heading this way,' Sean was shouting at the top of his voice.

All of the forty-five able bodied people they'd rounded up from the village's hundred, and twenty inhabitants, shouldered arms, and primed weapons. A few women were scattered here and there, like Malo, with her medi-kit, and Sandra, a mother of three who'd served in the Kakariko guard fifteen years back, before getting married and moving to Ordon.

The rest of the villagers were hiding, in cellars, and the Town hall. The women, the children, the elderly, all people to protect, reasons to fight.

'Nine hundred yards, and closing,' came the shout from the watchtower.

Link drew his sword, wishing he had his old shield, any shield really. The mismatched blade of his sword glinted in the light, as if it had a mind of its own. It was a weapon designed to kill, it had seen monster flesh plenty of times before, though once defeated the monsters just disappeared in a puff of black smoke into the ether, their loincloths and weapons included. It just showed how inhuman they were.

The sound of a horn echoed through the still night, every man and woman steadied themselves in the direction of the sound, ready to fight to protect their village.

'Four hundred yards, closing,' shouted Sam, sort of unnecessarily.

'You ready for this?' Sean asked.

'I was born ready,' was Link's reply, gripping his sword. The back of his sword hand, his right hand, was tingling, itching almost; he ignored it and kept his eyes on the distance.

He could see them now, a dark mass moving on the horizon, moving towards them. Link gripped his sword even tighter, there were some 'things', like eighteen tall, wide shapes. This meant eighteen boar riders, a mass of roiling small shapes accompanied them, this was going to be hard fought, they were outnumbered.

One of the large shapes was even bigger than the rest; it looked like a big shape, with another on top.

'Ready yourselves!' Sean hollered, holding his machine gun in both hands. It was an old style weapon, it shot out real bullets, which were highly effective, but a pain to reload. Sean's spear was strapped to his back.

'Remember what you're fighting for men,' Rusl, the village head, shouted out. He had been captain of the guard in Port Hylia, twenty years ago that is, he had white hair, and a moustache, both to match the white knuckles grasping his old sword, even in his fifties, he had insisted on fighting. The way he spoke showed his time in the Guard.

Link couldn't help but gasp as the enemy came into sight. The boars were armoured, no they had metal grafted onto them, pistons on outsides of their legs, forcing them fasting than would normally be possible.

The bokoblins themselves were green as guessed, but they too had metal, and cybernetic parts, effectively armouring them.

Some even carried force spears, one or two sported blasters even. This was bad; they had never had armour, and usually only swords, cudgels, and bows to arm themselves. How did they gain this sort of equipment?

Link was truly fearing for the lives in the houses behind him, before his calm side forced him to concentrate on the problem that was actually charging towards him, rather than the fears in his head.

But he couldn't help but worry about Anjay, who was on his right, looking terrified with his spear, and shield in his hands.

He was ripped from these thoughts by the five ton cyborg boar racing straight at him, it's huge tusks strengthened by metal easily able to tear straight through him. Its beady red eyes glared at him, matching those of its riders, one controlling the animal, the other levelling a bow with notched arrow right at Link.

Link did the obvious thing. He charged.

This took the bokoblins and their mount by surprise. Breath was steaming from the beast's snout.

Link grabbed the right hand tusk, with his left hand, and swung himself up, forcing himself feet first upwards. His feet connected with the driver, pushing it off, and under the pounding hooves of the boar, trampled instantly into a black mist.

He ran his sword right through the archer, before it levelled its bow, carefully putting his feet down, and standing on the now bucking boar's back.

He took his sword in both hands, hanging on by nothing but his feet, and plunged his sword through the boar beneath him. The beast roared, rocking from side to side. Link drew his sword out of it, and jumped, rolling as he hit the ground.

The boar swayed, roaring as it disappeared, its eyes trained on Link in deep bestial fury.

He stood to see a group of eight bokoblins, armed with swords and spears rushing toward him on foot.

Link ran up to meet them, the back of his hand itching up a storm, as he held his sword in both hands for extra power.

He slashed upwards, and two monsters dissipated before him, he brought the weapon back down arcing the curve to take out a third bokoblins, who puffed satisfyingly into smoke.

The fourth tried to bring a long sword down onto his head, but he stopped the blade above his head with his own sword, with right hand on the handle, his left palm on the blade. He kicked his right foot, sending it tumbling, he quickly stabbed, finishing it. Four down, four to go.

He dispatched the other four easily, and looked around for more enemies, charging for a group surrounding two villagers.

He took them out with swift efficiency, earning thankful looks from the two marooned villagers, he nodded at them, his heart beating fast. He looked around to see his brother Anjay facing down a huge blue boar, holding up a green moblin in heavy armour, with a massive spear.

Link was running, but the world seemed to slow down around him, he saw the moblin raise its arm back, ready to thrust. Anjay readied his shield, and held his spear tightly, his brown hair framing his determined face.

Link couldn't run fast enough.

Anjay dodged the thrust of the spear, and started forward, not seeing the spear coming up behind him to catch him on the back.

It hit him with such force he flew into the base of the watchtower, bending one of the four metal legs. Link heard the cracking snap of breaking bones; his brother looked very limp, like a rag-doll thrown into the corner.

The tower wasn't very strong, and it was top-heavy, it was just simple metal struts with a platform on top. It started to lean on the bent leg, then it fell with a creaking of screeching, shearing metal. It crashed down earthwards, covering Anjay and a house in broken, twisted metal, scattering bricks skyward.

Link was still running for the last spot he'd seen his brother. He leapt onto the twisted metal, desperate to find his brother, the last family he had, he had to be alive.

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, and he blacked out.

**AN/ Well that's it for today, hope you like it. Also ideas on what should the Gerudo be like, freedom fighters? Pirates? Or just a forgotten people? Also which is the better temple, Arbiter's Grounds or the Desert Colossus? Please review.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

**AN/ Ok I couldn't stay away from the computer during the Jubilee like I promised myself, but I enjoy writing, this will hopefully have been posted before Wednesday. Also something I forgot to mention at the start of the last chapter, all monsters will go puff in smoke, I don't like the idea of a Zelda with blood and guts, and all monsters in the gender area shall be called 'it', instead of he/she, because otherwise it will just get confusing.**

A pounding sensation in the back of his head was all Link could think about as consciousness returned to him. He automatically reached a hand back to feel the area, he found to his surprise what felt like bandages, coarse cotton lining the back of his head.

He opened his eyes to see the stark white of the instantly identifiable Town hall ceiling, metal struts running across it. He pushed his arms down to bring himself upright, his hands finding the sheets of a bed under his palms.

The large square room of the hall had changed a bit, were there used to be several dozen chairs, facing the upraised stage for the Village head to stand and address the Village.

Instead beds lined the walls, some occupied, some not. Link was sitting on one close to the closed double doors of the hall.

He was trying to work out what he was doing in what looked to be a makeshift hospital, before it all came rushing back **(AN/ for those of you who don't believe this can happen, trust me it does, I woke up one morning wondering why my leg was in a cast, before remembering I got hit by a car the day before)**, the battle, fighting the bokoblins, Anjay….. dear Goddesses Anjay! He had to find him, he started to push himself off the bed, determined to find his brother.

He was about to stand, when the doors opened, and Malo walked in, flooding more of the room with the soft light of morning. She looked about, before her eyes rested on Link.

'Whoa there kid, take it easy. You shouldn't try anything strenuous at the moment, you took a nasty knock to the back of your head,' she sounded very concerned, but it didn't matter to Link, he had to find his brother.

'I'm not important, where is my brother?' Link was desperate to find Anjay, to know he was safe. Malo looked slightly awkward, shifting her weight from foot, to foot.

'Your brother,.. I thought you knew,….. that you saw, he…' she sighed, and pointed towards the stage.

Link turned, dread settling heavily in his heart, he moved slowly, walking almost in a trance up to the raised platform. Several bundles, long and thin lay covered in white cloth.

As he stepped up onto the platform itself, he understood, exactly what that niggling voice at the back of his head had been saying, no-one could have survived the crash of the watchtower over them. All was confirmed by the size and shapes of each cloth bundle, laid out next to each other, a name written on each one, above a date of birth, and date of death, all with the same second date.

There were seventeen bundles in all, Link's eyes ran over each name, Solomon Dais, Sam Crowen, Geoffrey Cain, before finding the one he sought, his heart dropping through his chest.

He stepped slowly towards it, and dropped to his knees, head leaning over the hand written letters, 'Anjay Shigeru.'

His hands grasped the sheet, his white knuckles shaking with tension. He could tear the sheet off now. Look at him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, he wished to remember Anjay as he was, not to mar that image.

He allowed a single teardrop to fall onto the sheet; before he stood wiping his eyes on his sleeve. His sorrow was slowly beaten away, by fury, and hatred, a desire for revenge, his moral side cried out against such feelings, but he ignored it. His hands were still clenched, his mind echoing to his silent vow.

'Err… Link,' Malo's voice brought him back to the present, he turned, seeing her recoil slightly at his harsh expression, he softened his face, and feelings. It wasn't her fault; those feelings were reserved personally for the person responsible.

'Link, its Rusl. He's in a bad way, there's not much I can do, but, well, he's asking for you, he wants to see you.'

Link nodded, and inquired, 'Where is he?'

'In his house. He said a man deserves to die in the comfort of his own home.' A smile started to pull at the corner of her mouth, falling when she saw no similar response from Link.

He walked out past her, into the open air. He saw the carnage of the village, the watchtower had taken out two houses, around a dozen people were trying to move the rubble. Some houses looked burnt in places, some properly damaged, with people trying to shore up, and strengthen them.

He headed straight for the door of Rusl's house, opening it into the one room ground floor. A small kitchen area lay in one corner, while the rest was populated by a dining table, and chairs, and a sofa in the corner, Rusl lay on the sofa, covered in blankets. Link approached him slowly.

'Don't sneak there boy, scared of an old dying man eh?' his voice was slightly strained, as if it caused him pain to breathe. Link came to the sofa, pulling a wooden chair from the table with him; he pulled it up and sat.

'You were quite the fighter yesterday you know, worthy of a place in the Guard any day.' Link shrugged non-committedly, causing Rusl to harrumph and continue, 'you can't play down what you did Link. You took down a boar, and it's riders on your own, even with that armour. That takes great talent and a lot of courage I tell you. It's like you were born to wield a sword, though perhaps not that one.' His shoulders shook slightly up and down in what looked like him enjoying some private joke.

'I don't understand, what's wrong with my sword?' Link felt slightly protective of his trusty blade.

'There's nothing wrong with it, don't worry you'll understand in time, if the legends are true at any rate.' The man was becoming more cryptic by the second; Link considered going to get Malo to see if anything was seriously wrong.

'Look, there's no point just standing there looking confused, I'm only going to tell you this once, trust me I didn't understand when I was first told, so listen up, and make sure you remember what I'm about to tell you,' he took a deep rattling breath in before continuing 'seven years ago I was summoned into the forest to speak to the leader of the Kokiri, a rare thing for an adult. He told me things had gone wrong in Hyrule, that some spell was deteriorating, things were happening too early, that some imprisoned person was breaking free, before a hero from legends could be ready. He said the forest wasn't safe anymore, that the future must be protected. I didn't understand what in the Goddesses he was talking about until three weeks later, when those forces tore the Kokiri village apart, they never found what they were searching for, they were searching for this.' He drew a tin gold loop chain from around his neck, his arm shaking as he did. He held the end in his palm, before resting it on his chest.

At the end of what really looked like a gold chain, was a perfect emerald, circular, but flattened. It was the size of a palm, and perfectly curved, not an indentation, or imperfection, it was impossibly smooth, no person could cut anything that smooth. It was set in a soft setting of gold, with a slight flick of a band inwards. The thing would be worth an absolute fortune as a gem, but an odd aura of power rested with it, Link could almost hear the swishing of branches in his ears just looking at it.

'That's magic you feel boy, large amounts of it too, highly rare these days, magic is a gift from the Goddesses,' Rusl cupped the gem up again, staring into its green depths, 'this is what the Kokiri died to protect. I was told to keep it safe, that one day I would find the person I needed to give it to, the Key of the Forest he called it. He said "You will know who the one to give this to is, when the time comes, and I'm sorry but the passing of the gem will be on your deathbed, this is all I can tell you."'

Link was astounded; he was looking at the cause of the dying state of the forest, the genocide of the Kokiri, all because of this one gem. He didn't expect Rusl's next words.

'Take it. You're the one. Don't sit there looking stupid boy, you can't hide your plans from me, I see them in your eyes, you can't hide your anger from me young'un. You're planning on going after those raiders, do you actually realise who's controlling them? Where do you honestly think they got all that armour, and mechanics from? They're not at all capable of intelligence that large, they were kitted out by someone else, I can only think of one person who'd consort with those monsters. Our _great King _Ganondorf, that's who, and I'd bet my life, or what's left of it, that he wanted this, the Key to the Forest, whatever it does. I won't let that man get this, not him. Anyhow you're still going to go, you won't give up, but you'll need power to defeat him, magical power to match his. There are ancient legends that tell of a stone Temple within these forests, with power of the Goddesses concealed within, my best guess is that this is the key to it. So here. This is me, on my deathbed, here you go.' He pushed the necklace into Link's startled hands.

'Don't deny it boy, you're the one, I know it.'

'But the _King_,how am I supposed to face him?' How could he defeat the man who took Hyrule in seven days?

'You'll find out, but to help you, I've kept these things all these years, I knew I'd need them someday. Take the shield, and the light under armour, perhaps the shoulder and knee pads, don't bother with the heavy stuff, that'll slow down your fighting style too much.' Rusl was pointing towards a metal chest, at the foot of the sofa, Link tentatively stepped towards it, placing the necklace around his neck. He kneeled and opened the chest.

The chest contained military equipment, Rusl's old sword, some pieces of armour, what looked like a Kevlar body vest, and a silver shield. Link lifted it carefully, in reverence. The shield was wide at the top, sloping down lightly to a tapered point, it was around three foot, ten inches long. The only markings was a traditional sign of the military, a sloping 'v' shape, with bars on each side, inside/on top of the shape was the symbol that resonated deeply with every resident of Hyrule, the symbol of the Goddesses', the Triforce. Rusl's mark had three mirrored bars on each side, denoting his rank as captain. This could be considered his life's work.

'I don't know what to say,' Link looked up to see Rusl slumped, asleep.

Link took the shield, fixing it behind his sheathe on his back. He took a bundle of lightweight armour, including the silver shoulder-braces, but he left the knee protectors.

He stood up and walked across the room to the door, the gem bouncing against his chest underneath his shirt.

His free hand reached to push the door open before a voice came from behind him.

'Link,' Rusl wasn't as asleep as he'd first thought, 'your anger, be careful. If you let it, it will consume you.'

A dark storm blazed in Link's brown eyes. 'It already has,' he breathed before walking outside.

**AN/ Chapter three, done and dusted, Link's anger emerging, will he be lost to it? Find out later. Please Review.**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**AN/ Chapter four, can't believe I've got this far in one week, supposed to be revising, but I can't stay away from my pad of paper. Also importantly something I should have done earlier in the story, and I'm only saying this once:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, or anything to do with either of them, I own nothing printed here except for the ideas from my head, and characters of my own creation.**

The light black under armour fitted Link well, if a little tightly, it slipped over his muscled, lightly tanned chest with ease.

He pulled his shirt over it, green as usual. The light metal shoulder braces fitted his shoulders, with a small bit of adjustment. He decided not to use the rest of the armour, but he shoved a knife into the back of his belt.

He picked up the spare things, and laced it in the bottom of the cupboard, as he closed the door; something green fell from the top shelf. He grabbed it from the wooden boards. It was an old Kokiri hat, covered in dust. It had been given to him many years ago, he couldn't remember quite when, Mia had bet her hat that Link couldn't beat her aim with a slingshot. Several fence posts, birds, and some adult's heads later she had grudgingly given up her hat, saying she had spares anyway.

He dusted it off fondly; it was a dark, leaf green, with a large 'tail', that swept over the shoulders of the wearer. He unwound the bandages from the back of his head, a smear of blood in the middle, but nothing but a bump on his skin when his hand felt the back of his skull.

He shrugged, placing the hat, letting it ring his head, stopping just before his visor, the tip slipping down his back.

He looked in the mirror, mounted on the bedroom wall. He looked older, more serious. The sword hilt over his shoulder, and the dull silver shoulder braces, along with the knife in his belt marked him as what he supposed he now was. A fighter.

He turned for the door, but he couldn't help seeing what he wished to see least, the bed on the other side of the room. A pair of Anjay's trousers lay on the bed. He kept his feelings cooped up inside, and grabbed the padlock he'd put on the side table.

He couldn't stop himself from looking at the other door on the landing, besides the bathroom. The door was old, the dust coating it, a cobweb hanging from the doorknob. His mother's old room. The door hadn't been opened in the five years since she died of hypothermia, he and Anjay had silently agreed, never talked, but agreed all the same never to set foot in that room again.

He quickly forced himself down the wooden stairs, before his mind had time to dwell on what had been his family. He didn't glance at the ground floor room; he just walked outside, and slammed the door shut behind him. Too many memories inside.

He turned, and clicked the padlock onto the handle, fixing it to the wall, locking every memory inside.

He slowly walked down the village thoroughfare, the memories clamouring to be acknowledged at the back of his head.

He was at the North entrance, before a voice called from behind him.

'Link, wait,' Malo's voice carried from a few metres away. He swivelled to meet her. She rushed over, anxiousness clear on her face.

'Link, I know you're going, nothing will stop you. Please just listen to me, please. In the attack, six people were captured. Alive. If you're going, can you try and save hi… them.'

Link saw the desperation, breaking through on her normally calm face. She'd lost something, something important….

'Alec,' it wasn't a question from Link, it was a statement. From the way her eyes looked down, he knew he had it. Alec was Malos fiancé; they were supposed to marry in the spring.

'I'll find them.' Her eyes snapped to his, gratitude brimming in her watering eyes. He smiled reassuringly at her. He'd find them, and their captors.

He spun once more to face the fields he'd worked his whole life, he started walking, his small pack over his shoulder. He was leaving, probably for the last time. The green, grassy hills spread out before him, bathed in the yellow light of the Sun.

The trees cut long shadows across the yellowed forest grass. The Kokiri village wasn't far off now, according to the small e-map he held. It was a small screen, with a few buttons. It displayed a map of the area, and your position in it, a very useful device in a place like the forest.

He hadn't been in the Kokiri village since before the attack. He hadn't wanted to see the damage, he still didn't want to, but something told him, just told him that he needed to go there.

He was already passing fallen trees, plenty from both the sickness, and from the attack. The place simply _seethed _of decay.

He came to a familiar hollowed out tree trunk, one of the village entrances. Not so familiar were the burn marks, marring the old brown wood. He paused on the threshold, not exactly looking forward to seeing the old houses, burnt and broken.

Link sighed, exhaling heavily. The village wouldn't just disappear if he wished hard enough.

He walked slowly forward, dreading seeing yet more evidence that he couldn't just leave his memories behind him.

The wooden trunk ended, opening into the large clearing.

Large trees were dotted, randomly around. Doorways in each one, leading to single rooms, with a bed, maybe two. However the damage here, was worse than anything he'd previously seen. Everything was blackened, blaster marks, and areas that had clearly been on fire, half of the trees looked to have given up, falling over, leaning in weird angles. Craters were everywhere, evidence of explosions, devoid of grass or life.

The landmarks were familiar though, he could almost picture children in green, running, laughing through the glade, but no imagination could cover what lay in front of Link.

Only one tree-house lay untouched, a large one in a corner. The door was halfway up the trunk, a small ladder that had near disintegrated in moss, and rot led up to the small platform. He'd asked so long ago, in what seemed like another life, whose house it was, and why it was deserted. He'd been told in murmured breaths that it was being kept for someone, who would one day return. It seemed as no-one had noticed it, its bark was rotting, but unmarred by burns.

The green gem seemed heavy against his chest, the cause of all this wanton destruction. All this seemed so much, for so little.

The back of Links neck prickled, he felt like he was being watched, and he'd learnt to trust his feelings.

He looked carefully around, while hooking the e-map onto his belt. The landscape was tricky, the perfect place for an ambush. To his far left something moved a bit of shrubbery.

He pulled his hand up, casually flipping his visor down, clicking the thermal button as he went.

A small, red blob showed from behind its tiny camouflage. As he'd already learnt, the shape was exactly right for a Deku scrub. The scrub was cowering, visibly shaking.

Link flicked his visor back up, and raised his hands above his head.

'Hey. It's alright, I'm a friend,' he called out reassuringly.

The scrub emerged, tentatively, holding his spear aloft. He looked somewhere between scared, and defiant.

'Why are you here?' his voice was a bit squeaky. Link smiled and replied:

'I could ask you the same thing.' The scrub didn't smile.

'No Hylian, these are our forests to protect, you shouldn't be here, now why are you here?' he replied, stabbing his little spear to emphasize.

Link thought it would be for the best, if he told him what had happened in Ordon.

'I'm from Ordon,' he stated, 'we got attacked by raiders. We wouldn't have got any warning if we hadn't found a wounded one of your Royal guards by the forest fence. We drove them back, but we lost eigh-,' he stopped, remembering Rusl's words, 'nineteen to them, along with six who got captured.'

'A Royal guard….' he trailed off, looking worried. He lowered his spear slightly, before continuing 'how was he?'

'Last I saw, sleeping. Don't worry, Malo is a good doctor, didn't she help with a scrub's tricky pregnancy last year?'

'Yes, my nephew. Alright I trust you, but why are you here?'

'I…' there were several things he could say, but there specifically, it had been a hunch. He replied before he knew what he was saying, like his mouth had the idea, before his brain, 'I need to see the Deku King.' He had no idea as to why he said that.

The scrub looked at him, as if summing him up.

'Alright, but I can't guarantee he won't have you executed on the spot, he's not been in a good mood since the raid.'

**AN/ Ok, slightly shorter chapter, but if I included the next bit it would probably reach something like 3000 words or something. Don't expect another chapter over the next week or so, I've got exams next week, so I really need to revise.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

**AN/ Okay, meant to be revising, but who can control the writer inside.**

The small flimsy wooden huts, paled in comparison to the huge structure that stood before Link. It had to be three or four storeys high, all made of wood. It was circular, with a domed roof. Some small, box-like add-on buildings were attached to it here and there.

The burnt holes in the roof, sort of ruined the impression, along with the rest of the colony. Huge swathes of the place had been burnt down, the embers were still crackling. One lit arrow could do a whole lot of damage in a place entirely constructed of wood.

The same scrub he'd found in the Kokiri village was pointing his spear at Link's back, even so as he walked down the alleyway, he got many stares, some of curiosity, some of hatred, like he was the cause for all that had happened to them.

At the gates to the huge place, that had to be the palace, stood two scrubs, in royal guard's getup, just like the one back at Ordon. They didn't look pleased to see Link.

'What is this?' one demanded angrily as they stood before the two.

'I…err,' the scrub was clearly intimidated.

'Look, I need to….' Link started, but was cut off by the guard pointing his spear at his mouth, inches away from spearing him.

'You will keep quiet,' he snapped at Link, Link was disliking him more by the second. He continued in the same angry tone at the poor scrub, 'you were meant to scout, to keep an eye out for threats, not to bring one back with you!'

Link decided to keep out of the conversation, but started whistling, a small tune, slightly sad, but regal, a refusal of backing down, all symbolised within the few bars.

'He, he's from Ordon, he wanted to see his Majesty. Ordon was…' he was stopped in his tracks by the guard.

'I don't care if he wants to see the King, he's an outsi…,' he stopped, staring at Link as if he'd dropped out of the sky, '...der,' he finished quietly.

Quicker than Link would have thought possible for someone so small, the guard put his spear blade right under his throat, cutting his whistling short abruptly. He placed his hands in the air in surrender.

'Where did you learn that?' the guard almost spat at Link.

'To whistle?' Link replied, confused.

'No, that music, you can't know that, it means nothing anymore, they no longer rule, and it hasn't been used for hundreds of years, so were in the Goddesses did you learn it?' the guy was angry, yes, but he seemed spooked out of his mind, and the other was staring at Link warily, as if he might explode any second.

'I don't know, I was just whistling.'

The guard looked him up and down, as if appraising him for the first time, muttering something about green, always green, and his hat.

The second guard spoke up unexpectedly, 'Look, rules are rules. We've got to give him entry.' Link had no idea what all this was over some little tune that had popped into his head, but entry to the palace was a good thing.

'But its ancient history, he can't be. He probably just read a book on old myths, and decided to try it out.' The guy sounded like he was clutching at straws.

'Just forget it; we'll let the King decide.' The second guard seemed to have persuaded the first. He abruptly yelled over his back 'hoist portcullis.'

The huge wooden grid started to rise, with a clanking sound from within the walls. The guard pointed at the scout who'd escorted Link, who was looking thoroughly confused.

'You can go back to your duties now.' He said, not unkindly.

The two guards escorted him through the now open entrance; he couldn't help but look around in amazement. He was in a huge room, all the way to the roof, with a massive skylight. Balconies marked the other three floors, beyond this room. At the other end of the room was a large throne, covered in vines. In the centre of the floor was a large pit, with flames licking up its sides. A figure stood looking into the fire, with his back to them. He had long, spindly legs, and a huge, pink hat made of what looked to be petals, he carried a stick, with some plant on top.

The guard who'd shouted at Link went up to him and whispered something in his ear.

The King, for he could hardly be anyone else, turned to look at Link, his orange eyes scanning over him.

'I am King Catalo III, who are you Hylian?' He had a deep voice, which reverberated around the room.

'I am Link Shigeru. I come from Ordon.' He tried, and succeeded to keep his voice confident.

'That does not explain why you are here, at this of all times, and how you knew that song, which is far too old and secret for some random Ordonian to know.' The King didn't stick around, just getting to the point.

'Well…' Link let his thoughts control his voice, almost as if someone else was speaking, 'the song just popped into my head, it seemed right. As for why I'm here, well. I have a key, a special key. I'm looking for the place it unlocks,' Link forced himself to look directly into Catalo's eyes, the amber orbs burning into him.

Catalo was staring at him, with incredulity, and perhaps, a little hope.

'Leave us,' he boomed. The guards backed outside, muttering thanks. 'Walk with me,' it wasn't a question, it was an order. Link fell into step behind the King, hardy unable to notice the size difference, the Deku scrub himself was around four foot, five. Five foot, eight with his oversized hat.

Catalo lead him behind the wooden throne, to a small door set into the wall, concealed from onlookers by the throne.

He opened it, and led Link into a small garden, full of green grass, and plentiful flowers of varying colours. Link had no idea as to how this was not empoisoned by the sickness.

'This place is protected, by old magic, the decline of the forest has no reach here,' Catalo answered the unspoken question.

He turned to face Link as they came to two benches in the middle of the garden; they each sat, facing each other.

'Now, we may speak freely, of these matters. These raiders I thought to be coincidence, just wanting more supplies and weapons, as per usual, except of course they were equipped by someone, and they didn't stay long here, instead heading off, taking nothing, though leaving plenty dead. I'm guessing I know where they headed next, and thanks to you, what they were looking for. How is Ordon?' he sounded truly regretful.

'Nineteen dead, many wounded, several houses demolished, six captured,' Link rattled of the statistics, refusing to think of them as anything but numbers. 'It would have been far worse, if we hadn't got warning from an injured Deku Royal guard who struggled from the forest, he was resting up with the doctor the last I saw, we're all thankful to him.' Catalo nodded solemnly, agreeing.

'But, by what you've said they didn't find what they came for. I do know of a key, a great secret of the forest dwellers. A key that leads to a very important place. However I presumed this key lost, along with its keepers, that the hope of finding it, was lost as well, yet here you are, speaking of a special key, and a special place to unlock.'

Link made the decision, that he had to trust Catalo, and drew the golden chain from around his neck.

'The leader of the Kokiri entrusted this to Rusl seven years ago,' Catalo was staring at the gem on the chain as if it were one of the Goddesses themselves, 'Rusl gave it to me, upon his deathbed, along with some other things.'

Catalo looked up at Link, his droopy face smiling.

'I hardly dared hope before, but now. It's you; you're him, the saviour in green.' None of this made any sense to Link, however Catalo continued, his elation unabated, 'legends, my boy, legends, you're a part of them. I can't tell you much, only that you'll find the entrance here. It's under the fire pit, in the throne room, the fire burns continuously, so no-one wants to look under it. You'll need that key of yours, come on.' Catalo got up from the bench, and started hurrying back to the throne room. Once inside, he led Link to the throne.

'Watch this,' he said, lifting up the seat of the throne, to reveal several cogs, and a hole at the base of one. Catalo inserted his staff into the hole, and pushed, together they made a lever.

A gust of wind rushed through the room, extinguishing the flames, as they faded a charcoal encrusted iron base was revealed, which flipped up, to reveal cracked, white stone steps leading downwards, into darkness.

'I'm afraid this is all I can do for you, you must go in alone.' Catalo said behind him, 'farewell, and good luck.'

Hardly hearing him, Link nodded his thanks, and walked slowly into the pit, before the soles of his shoes started smoking, so he ran onto the steps, and into the darkness.

The iron trapdoor closed behind him, so he flicked the torch on his headset on, the stone steps went on in front of him, vines curling on the earthen walls. He started walking, tentatively, in case they proved loose, but the stairs held him up.

After a hundred, or so steps, he reached a corridor, floor, walls and ceiling made of the same white stone bricks. Vines lined all the place, dark green and twisting.

As he walked forward, his shirt started emitting a neon green light, shooting out of his neck, and arm-holes.

At the end of the corridor was a blank, solid stone wall, with a symbol carved into it; it was the three triangles of the Triforce, but under it was a sort of bird shape, with four angular curved wings, cradling the Triforce, he'd never seen anything like it. The glow was getting brighter from his shirt, the key was close to the door, but where was the lock?

He placed his right hand on the wall, before jerking backwards at the effect. The carved symbol glowed first gold, then green, before being replaced by a green circle, with three swirls inside. This glowing symbol stayed, Link felt as if it was familiar, but had no understanding why.

The entire wall then started a grinding sound of stone, upon stone. The entire wall lifted up into the roof before him, the light fading from under his shirt. The key had unlocked the door to the temple.

Link took a deep breath, and walked through the opening, into the temple.

**AN/ Ok, that's it, I'm revising now, expect nothing until Saturday or Sunday when exams finish, until then. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

**AN/ Exams are finito (does victory dance), mine jubilation holdeth no bounds upon this, or any other Earth.**

Light shone through from the end of the sloped corridor, Link had been slowly climbing for several minutes, the endless white stone brick, covered in vines stretching out in front of him.

The light nullified the need for his torch, so he switched it off. On the floor was a depiction of the same symbol from the entrance, a circle with three swirls, like a wind, carved into the stone, it all looked centuries old.

The corridor ended, leading out to bright space, Link blinked several times, adjusting to the large amounts of light.

He was startled to be looking into a courtyard, with no roof, facing the open air, there had to be something making the place invisible from the outside, otherwise this place would have easily been found. Trees were dotted in clusters here and there, rosebushes lining the walls. The entry-way he was in was the first of four, in the middle of the wall; another was in the middle of each of the other three walls, though each was covered with a large, grey stone slab.

In the centre of the courtyard was a white stone fountain, gushing water into a circular pool at its base, Link headed over to it.

The water was perfectly clear, allowing him to see the bottom of the pool. The fountain was a cone shape, with a simple cube base. The cone was engraved, three bands, with pictures in them. The bottom band depicted what he recognised as goats, some monkeys, strange humanoid things the Kokiri had shown him once, he hadn't seen one since. A few cows were around, odd black and white lumbering animals, Ordon had bought some years back, but they hadn't survived the winter. There were also strange shapes, animals certainly, but oddly proportioned, an oblong body, a long, thick neck to a head that seemed to be pointing forward. It had absurdly long legs, with hooves at the bottom, a long ruffle of what must have been hair went down the neck, and a tail, and he'd never seen anything like it.

The next band up was again, around four inches wide, and depicted lots of Deku scrubs, dancing around, some holding their hands aloft to the sky.

The top band was thicker, around five inches wide, and the carvings nearly brought a tear to his eye. Perfectly carved where children, with odd, tailed hats, running, laughing, playing, sitting together, completely carefree. The water spurted out just above it, going straight up, before dribbling back down the stone.

The cube base was engraved with long, flowing script, but the glyphs were not Hylian, similar, but they looked off, he couldn't understand it, though he did recognise it; around five years back while building the foundations for a house, the villagers had found a stone tablet, with glyphs like these. He remembered someone telling him it was Ancient Hylian, a language from millennia ago.

He forced his eyes off the fountain; he had to get through this Temple, to where this power to defeat Ganondorf rested. He looked about, the three doorways were identical, no difference between them. He made a decision on the right hand doorway, just a hunch.

He walked over to the grey slab; it had another of the same symbols, carved in. His shirt sleeves were loosing green light again, and the back of his right hand itched as he reached to touch the stone. Just as before the symbol glowed a bright, neon green, the same colour as the gem round his neck. Link was surprised however, he gasped as the stone faded into nothing, just disappearing into thin air, it spooked Link, magic was something he was unfamiliar with, though in that day he'd seen plenty.

He walked through the now open doorway, not sure what to expect. He was in a corridor, the walls and roof of the same white brick stone, though every few paces a golden fire bracket was lit, providing illumination, he turned to look at the courtyard again to see grey stone blocking his way back, he slapped both his hands to the cold stone, but nothing happened, no glow from the gem, and the block was solid. He had no choice but to go forwards. He turned and set off along the corridor.

Under his feet was a red carpet, highly frayed and scuffed, with marks all over it, but carpet none the less, Link was confused as to how, or why a carpet was in a place like this.

At the end of the corridor was a white stone slab, with no markings, symbols or engravings, just an end to the corridor, but something about it made him uneasy, that something lurked on the other side. He reached forward and touched it, immediately gears cranked, and creaked in the walls, and the slab lifted up, he walked forward carefully, his right hand resting on his sword hilt. The sight before him made him quickly draw his sword, and take his shield, he barely heard the slab crash down behind him.

The room in front of him was quite wide, and rather long, stone walls led to the open air, while instead of a stone floor, all was grass, except some stairs leading to a doorway. However things weren't that simple, the walls were cracked, the grass was yellow and brown, the one tree was blackened, and looked like it was melting. Worst were the group of purple bokoblins, gathered around a small fire. Monsters had got in here, and they'd brought the sickness with them.

He readied his sword as one grunted, spotting him, it charged, raising its cudgel high above its head, the others following it, their short legs working hard.

He caught the first ones strike on his shield, slashing upwards through it, the black smoke dissolving to show another six heading for him. Link went onto automatic, slashing and parrying their crude strikes; he took them down within a minute, sweat glistening slightly on his brow.

He didn't know if it was just him, but the grass looked slightly better than when he walked in. He walked with confidence up the stone steps to the doorway, leaving the embers of the fire burning. A stone slab the same as the one at the entrance to the room stood before him, it opened in much the same way, but with less grinding, like it was in better condition. It opened into a grey stone room, that looked as if it was carved from the rock itself, all one solid piece. In the middle of the room was a knee high square walled area, with a space cut into each side, while on each corner was a golden fire bracket, which looked like a very tall five sided pyramid, up-ended, with a hole in the base. Each of the gaps led to a doorway, including the one he was standing in now.

He stepped into the 'almost square' feeling like the brackets should be lit, he reached into his pocket and took out his small metal lighter, which was useful for making fires in the winter. Each one caught quickly to flame, on the fourth a grinding noise echoed through the chamber, in the middle of the space inside the almost square, a rectangle of floor was rising on a podium of the same stone as the walls.

He walked over to it; the rectangle was covered in dust, bar his footprint where he'd stepped on it earlier, he blew on it, and was given a clean view of, nothing, just a blank stone rectangle.

But even as he stared, carvings started to swirl, and form on the stone. It was a simple carved map. It showed a small corridor leading to a large square space in the bottom of the stone. It had a circle in the middle, and three exits leading off of each wall, he realised it was the courtyard he'd been in earlier, the forward, and left routes he hadn't taken led to a large room with a skull in, he felt glad he'd picked the right one. He could see the room with the bokoblins he'd just been in, and this one with the three routes leading off that he could see around him. The left hand one went through several corridors and dead ends before a small room with a key symbol, while the right hand led to the same room, both routes meeting beyond the forward one. The one in front of Link, straight forward led to two rooms, a large circular room, and a small room beyond it, with the same symbol from all over the Temple, a circle with three swirls, that was where he needed to go, he was certain.

He walked over to the forward facing doorway, and found why the map had a key on it. The slab that was the door was bound in four chains, all meeting in a circular central lock.

He would have to go through those tunnels and corridors, rooms no doubt with more monsters, traps, and puzzles for him to deal with, or…

He slashed his sword twice, taking two chains on each stroke, grinning slightly he kissed his blade. **( AN/ Don't tell me you never wanted to do this, rather than search for half an hour for the boss key.)**

'Never let me down,' he murmured, stroking the blades hilt fondly.

He touched the door with his palm, and it lifted up into the roof to allow him access to the dark room beyond. He stepped through, automatically drawing his sword, wary of any threat, the slab shut with a smash behind him, just as torches flickered to life spontaneously from above his head, all around the huge, circular room, which seemed to be a huge dome, made of a dark brown material, along with the bare earth floor. What made him grip his sword tightly was what was in the middle of the chamber, facing him.

He'd seen close ups on a computer screen of what the goat ticks looked like, spindly legs, a fat body, and a large, circular mouth, with, instead of a tongue, a large spike, that was hollow, and for sucking goats blood, they were parasites, living off another for food. A goat tick however was not fourteen foot tall, with a spike the size of Link himself coming out of its mouth between its odd insect eyes, made up of hexagons.

The monstrous thing had its spike embedded in the ground in the middle of the room, where green light seeped through a hole in the floor. It was using the energy of the Temple for food, it fed off magic, although as it drew its huge sucker out of the ground and started towards Link, he got the feeling it wouldn't mind feeding off him either.

He ran forward, trying to take it by surprise, he ran to the side, running his sword straight through its front, left leg, which dropped, disappearing into blackness. He stopped at the other end of the room, thinking what to do next.

To his horror as the giant parasite turned on its remaining five legs, the one he'd cut off was slowly growing back at a steady rate. That made things complicated. How could he kill something that regenerated? Kill it before it can regenerate. He needed to hit it somewhere it wouldn't recover from, it may be able to replace a limb, but he doubted it could replace something important, a plan was already formulating in his head, but was shoved out by the fully reformed, and no doubt angry monster.

He sprinted forwards, as fast as he could, to the left, making it up as he went along. He held his sword out to the right side, slashing all three of the legs on that side, the creature slumped onto its side, narrowly missing Link. He vaulted up onto its back, running over its plated back, to the head.

He grasped his sword in both hands, readied himself, and plunged it downwards, straight into the thing's right eye, into its brain. Its screams echoed around the chamber, bouncing off the domed walls.

He pulled his sword out, and jumped off, just as it disappeared into black smoke.

He twirled his sword, before placing it in its sheath, with the shield. He squatted to look where the monstrosity had been, on the floor was a tiny splat, a dead tick; the magic must have just enlarged it.

A green glow was coming from behind him, he turned to see a small doorway with an arched top, covered in a symbol glowing green, that same bird one, with the Triforce on top.

He walked over to it, taking his time, rather proud of defeating a fourteen foot tall insect.

As he approached it, the doorway just disappeared into thin air; he paused, before walking boldly into it.

The room on the other side was hexagonal, with a domed roof, all made of light grey stone, the familiar swirls engraved on each wall. Directly in the centre of the room was a pedestal, a few inches off the ground, with a step leading up to it, on the pedestal was a tall, thin pyramid, without the point, jut a square top, he couldn't see what was on it.

He took a step, but was stopped looking at the symbols, on the six walls, each one was glowing green. There was a bright green flash, blinding Link, and making him blink a lot.

When he regained his sight, he saw a white glowing figure in front of him, made of light, a long robe leading to the ground. The figures head, hands, and hat seemed to not listen to gravity; all were floating away from the body, connected by nothing. On the figure's chest, was the same symbol from all around the Temple, and the walls of the room he was in now. The weirdest was the face, it was an expressionless face, a mask floating away from the head, there was a crack, running down the left hand side. Link was still in shock when an ethereal voice filled the room, deep, and low, but feminine, certainly.

'You have arrived at last, Hero chosen by the Goddesses.' This statement confused Link even more, he wanted to ask who she was, but his throat seemed to dry to talk.

'I am the Sage of the Forest, ancient guardian of these woods. Though perhaps you might understand me better like this.' The figure raised her hands to the upwards, there was another green flash, blinding Link once more, however the person now sitting on the step was not the same as before, Guardian of the Forest he could understand now.

Sitting on the step was a small green-haired girl, in the green Kokiri garb, her bright green eyes staring at him. An green aura flickered around her, producing a sense of power. She smiled lightly, but it didn't reach her eyes, he instinctively knew that as the forest was in a bad way, so was she.

'I have the power you seek,' her voice was the small one of a child, yet confident like an adult with experience, 'all the power I have is yours to wield.' She pointed behind her to the pyramid.

He walked past her, on the stone pyramid, was a green metal, circular medallion, deeply carved into it was the three swirl symbol, he turned it over to see a Triforce symbol etched in. he turned to thank her, but his thanks died in his throat as a blue light started to surround him.

'I will send you were you must go next, to the person you must meet,' came her voice, confusing him more.

In seconds all he could see was blue, swirling. It felt like his insides were boiling. Eventually the light faded, and the sight before him left him dumbfounded.

He was in a large metal room, with screen in front of him, people in chairs working at controls, to each side were two indents, with scientists, and people working with computers. **(AN/ imagine like on a star destroyer in Star Wars)**

Straight in front of him was a woman, with long blond hair, falling down her back, where a metal bow, and quiver rested over her camouflage, sleeveless jacket, showing her pink long-sleeved shirt. A blaster pistol hung from her belt.

'At arms!' a voice behind him yelled, definitely male.

The woman spun, drawing her bow, and notching an arrow, as quick as lightening, pointing straight at him. From behind him came the sound of cocking weapons, charging blasters, and heavy breathing.

'Right….' Link started, raising his hands above his head.

**AN/ Yep that's Zelda, and yes that's the Free Hylian Alliance, things are heating up, good to be back writing.**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

**AN/ hope you enjoyed the last chapter, it was a bit rushed, as I didn't have much time to write it, so I missed out mentioning Saria's name, and I described the room in the FHA badly, type in 'star wars bridge' on Google images, and you'll see what I meant about indents, I didn't really know how to describe them.**

'How in, for the Love of Nayru, did you get in here? This is the securest location in Hyrule.' The woman's voice was commanding, and used to being in command, though Link was a little more worried about the her arrow pointed at his face.

Murmurings were coming from all around him, things about 'blue light', 'magic for sure', and 'full mag, semi-automatic'. Blue sparks were fading into nothingness around him, the last of the light disappearing around his feet. A nervous, stuttering voice came from one of the little indents in the floor, a man in a white trench coat, holding what looked like a pistol, with a small screen on top, pointed right at Link.

'M-Ma'am, y...you need to see these readings.' He sounded awed, and amazed, then again it wasn't everyday some random guy with a sword popped out of thin air.

'Just tell me the numbers,' ordered the woman, without looking away from Link, definitely in command here.

'I… it, it can't. I've never seen anything…it's in excess of one thousand Mimotons, falling rapidly but, it's…' he sounded completely dumbfounded, supported by the gasps from around the room at the figure, whatever Mimotons were. Whatever they were, the woman stepped back, lowering her bow slightly.

As she stepped back, he got a better look at her; she had piercing blue eyes, hawk-like, which were studying him carefully. Her hair was in two braided strands, of thumb-width, running down past her shoulder, while seeing them he noticed the insignia on her shoulders, the same as on his shield, except hers had five bars on each side, the symbol of a general, the highest possible rank. Supposedly only one of those insignias existed, in use, in Hyrule, and it was on a woman presently standing in front of him, with a loaded weapon, great, just great.

'You two,' she said looking behind him, 'take his weapons.'

He felt the weight of his sword and shield being removed from his back, his hands still in the air, he felt fingers curling around the hilt of the dagger from Rusl's chest, and the weight of various pouches from his belt, holding his wallet, lighter, and a few batteries for his visor.

'I know exactly how much is in each of those pouches, and how much is in my wallet.' Link stated to the open air, gaining a huff of amusement from behind him. He turned to face the brown bearded man in light camo uniform holding his pouches and knife, a deadly serious look on Link's face, forcing the grin from the soldier's face, he wasn't joking, most of his life's savings were in those pouches, the rest was back at his house. He turned again to face the woman, almost thinking he caught a smirk on her face, before it disappeared.

'Now, how did you get here, and why?' she asked him.

'You wouldn't believe me,' Link replied, heck, he wouldn't have believed it himself.

'Try me.' Link raised an eyebrow at that, starting to like her a little more, though as he looked closer, she seemed a lot younger than at first, more around Link's age.

He was about to start trying to explain, when he was interrupted by the same scientist, with the weird gun thing, both he and the woman turned to look at him.

'Um… excuse me Ma'am, but…err. Could you see what's in his hand, erm… please?' She turned to stare at him expectantly, he lowered his hand, realising he was still holding the little medallion, the size of his palm.

He opened his hand, to show it, causing her eyes to widen, she recognised it somehow, she lowered her bow, staring at him with shock, wariness, and what almost seemed to be hope.

'Holster arms,' she announced to the room in general, placing her own weapons back on her back. The sound of various things being placed back where they came from met Link's ears, making him relax a bit more of the tension he'd built up.

'Give him back his effects, all of them,' his liking for went up that little bit more, as did his confusion.

'But Ma'am…' a voice came, no doubt from the bearded man with his things.

'I said…' was her irritated reply.

'Yes Ma'am.' Link placed all his things back where they should be, with nothing missing thankfully. The woman however took his shield from him when she saw it, raising an eyebrow.

'So you are…' she started, turning it over to look carefully at the inside of the shield, 'Rusl Ashon, Captain of the Guard, in Port Hylia, retired with honours?' she smiled slightly as she handed it back to him, whereupon he strapped it back to its rightful place.

'Deceased, as of some point today,' Link finished, 'he gave me it on his deathbed.' Zelda's face fell, the smile disappearing.

'My condolences, but the last I heard he was the Village Head in some place in the Northern forests.'

'Village of Ordon, my birthplace, based in the forests, or what's left of them.' He smiled sadly, given a decade, the forests will be gone.

'I'm sorry, what do you mean 'what's left of them'?' she asked.

'The forest is dying _Ma'am_, won't be anything left soon enough.' Link's reply was rough, everyone knew this, it was old news.

'Dying, that is not possible, the Kokiri are there to protect those forests, not to mention the Deku peoples.' It was Link's turn to gawk at her.

'Goddesses, you don't know, do you? The Kokiri are dead. They died seven years ago,' he said in a hard voice, 'the Deku are fading fast with the forest. To our _great King's_ list of _achievements_ you can include genocide.' She looked completely, and utterly dumbfounded at this information, this really was the first she'd heard of it.

'That… is some belated news, we had no idea.'

'Evidently.' She looked like she wanted to say something, when she was interrupted by the people working the controls of the giant screen behind her, that covered almost the entire wall.

'Ma'am we have contact, video link establishing.' Her eyes widened as if remembering it only now, she whirled, talking fast.

'Valkyrie One, do you read?' An image was forming on the formerly black screen, a white faced man, with a black crew-cut, wearing green uniform, at the bottom of the screen were his shoulders, with the guard's symbol, four bars each side, a Commander.

'Yes Ma'am, we copy, this is Valkyrie One.' An explosion echoed in the background of the picture, the camera taking the video shook, or, no he shook, stumbling, showing a room of high metal walls, covered in computers, and equipment, bits of it sparking and blackened, a shower of sparks passed in front of the camera, before the man's face appeared again.

'Starboard engine four, non-operational, rear engine one failing.' A feminine voice, but electronic sounded, a computer of some sort.

'Number of operational fighters?' the woman asked, urgently.

'Only what we have in the air, the rest were in the hangar when it blew, they came out of nowhere. If they blow another engine, we're down. We've managed to get three evac ships out; we can't get any more out, their fighter coverage is too high, the launching areas are on fire, there's nothing we can do.' The man sounded angry, like he hated the situation, fair enough by the sound of things. A voice, male came from somewhere in front of the camera.

'Audio line established Sir, communication with the enemy open.'

'Finally,' he was holding a microphone with a wire coming out of it, his knuckles white, 'now, what the hell are you doing, there are three and a half thousand civilians on board, this is a refugee ship, you can't do this!' he spat into the equipment. An electronic voice, male, devoid of expression answered;

'Ship contains members of the rebel group, known as the Free Hylian Alliance. Peace will be restored.'

'Didn't you hear me? There are innocent civilians on this ship.'

'Peace will be restored.'

'This violates every article of war there is!'

'Peace will be restored.'

Another explosion rocked the ship, the same electronic, feminine voice sounded again.

'Starboard engine three, non-operational.'

The man looked at the camera, just as the screen cut to static.

'Video link lost.' One of the technicians at the controls said, kind of unnecessarily, 'City in the Sky is down, Ma'am.' The woman had hung her head, leaning on the two technician's chairs, she straightened, brushing her hand at her right eye, Link thought he saw a droplet of moisture as she flicked her hand.

'Dismissed,' she said loudly to the room, the tramp of boots, and small whooshing sounds, of what Link later learnt were hydraulic doors, followed the order.

'I'm sorry, you arrived at a time of… well, it doesn't matter, if you'd like to start the introductions, we might continue this conversation somewhere private. I have questions about how you obtained that,' she said, pointing at Link's hand, where he still held the little green, metal medallion. He put it in one of his returned pouches, and reached out his hand for a handshake.

'Of course, my name's Link.'

'Pleased to meet you,' she shook his hand firmly, 'my name is Zelda.'

**AN/ Well there's a chapter, shorter than the last by around a thousand words, but I'm already starting on chapter eight, and I thought this a good spot to end on, I'll update soon, please review, they make me write faster.**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

**AN/ Chapter eight, seems like yesterday this was just an idea, that refused to leave me alone. Oh and Light-Sakura, reason for not knowing who Zelda was, is because she's supposed to have been killed seven years ago, along with the rest of the Royal family, and maritheb20-lyneberge if they want the story, they can have it for free as long as I get a copy.**

Link was totally confused now. He was walking down a corridor, which resembled a huge metal tube, with doors every few paces. Also the corridor happened to be in the middle of a rebel group fighting Ganondorf. And finally, just because that wasn't enough, he was being shown the way by the former Princess Zelda, someone who'd been declared dead seven years ago, but instead was alive, and had nearly had Link locked up and/or killed just over five minutes ago.

Everything seemed to be designed to confuse him, the doors were apparently hydraulic, sliding into the wall when anyone walked up close, it freaked Link out, making him almost wish for a wooden door, with a normal doorknob.

After walking behind Zelda for about ten minutes, through identical corridors, with identical doors. He had no clue how she knew where she was going. Every person they walked past immediately threw their right hand to their head in salute, which felt weird to Link, to be travelling next to a person who was actually important in the World, while he was a simple guy from a village in the forest, worthless.

She stopped as they reached a corridor with a dead-end, with a final door set into the end.

She walked purposefully down the corridor, so Link followed, hoping this was where he could finally stop. She stepped up to the end door, taking something from her pocket, she put it in a small electronic device, stuck to the wall next to the door, he saw as she swiped it along the scanner that it was a card, a key of some sort. The door slid to the side allowing them entry.

Inside was a square room, again completely metal, but the walls and roof were all straight lines, no more circular weirdness. There was a sofa before a screen on the wall, a small table with three chairs, and a small kitchen area, with cupboard, fridge, and cooker. A door led off next to the sofa, probably to a bedroom. With a shock it hit him, this was Zelda's private quarters, a princess, and he was in it, this was just beyond a weird day.

She indicated to the sofa, so he sat, resting his arm on the armrest nervously, his fingers clenching and unclenching. Goddesses he needed to pull himself together, he fought monsters, just that day he'd taken down a fourteen foot tall insect, he could do this. She sat on the other end of the sofa, still staring at him intently, he felt as if she was scanning him, those blue eyes looking for his weaknesses.

'Ok,' he mentally hit himself, how exactly do you start a conversation with royalty? 'Obvious question, but, well… aren't you supposed to be dead? No offense or anything.' He was useless Link again. She however smiled, as if stopping herself from laughing.

'Ganondorf would like everyone to believe that all hope is lost, that his power over the kingdom is total, and absolute, though these days it's not just Hyrule… but anyway, he does actually believe that I died along with my family, and personally I want him to keep believing that.' Her smile had faltered when she mentioned her family; he instinctively knew they had sacrificed themselves so she could live.

'I…' she wouldn't want an 'I'm sorry', her family was dead. 'I can understand, I'm the last of my family, as of yesterday.' She looked at him oddly; he could almost hear cogs clanking in her head. He wasn't sure what she was thinking, until she took him off guard with a question he wasn't expecting.

'You said earlier, that that shield was given to you by Rusl, on his deathbed, and another death… exactly what happened yesterday?' Link's memories were perfectly clear, standing right at the front of his mind; he could see the tower falling, feel his feet pounding into the dirt. He pushed this all backwards, until he could concentrate on answering her question, he realised that had taken him several seconds, she was looking at him expectantly.

'Yesterday, around nightfall I found a Deku Royal guard, with an arrow sticking out of him, at the edge of the forests, he gave us a warning of raiders coming from the desert. We prepared for an attack, but. They were far stronger than they should have been, they had advanced weaponry, I mean guns, cybernetic grafts onto their mounts, and themselves. Someone equipped them, and only one person would do that,' his voice was angry, and his white knuckles showed, 'we lost eighteen in the attack, buildings were destroyed, plenty of people wounded, and six captured. I don't know how many people have died afterwards like Rusl, but I'd assume a few. My brother was caught under a falling building, he never had a chance.' His hands were quivering with emotion, tears threatening to form in his eyes. He looked up to see Zelda looking sad, but slightly scared at his emotional display, look at him; he was laying himself bare in front of someone he'd only just met.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, he couldn't just lose it, he managed to regulate his breathing, unclenching his fists.

'I truly am sorry,' her voice was condoling, 'but this still does not explain how you came by that medallion, or how you appeared in the middle of the control room.'

'As Rusl was dying, he gave me something, something the Kokiri entrusted him with, the Key to the Forest.' He slowly drew the chain from around his neck, her eyes widened, recognition clear.

She walked over to a shelf, and drew a book-sized electronic screen from it, the screen flared to life as she picked it up, she used her fingers, dragging and typing things Link couldn't see. The screen on the wall suddenly turned on, and displayed an image of a painting; a black stone table, engraved with gold, with three items on top. He recognised the first as the emerald he now held, next to it was a gem it's polar opposite, red, and diamond shaped, angular where the emerald was smooth, set in v-shaped gold setting, beyond this was another gem, or technically three. Three circular sapphires, set in a central piece of gold that enclosed them. Each gem was totally different from the others.

'This was painted by one of my ancestors, handed down by the…' she trailed off, as if she hadn't meant to mention that bit. 'Anyhow, these are the three Spiritual Stones, of the Forest, Fire, and Water. It's been thousands of years since they disappeared, assumed lost or returned to the races that protected them in secret, apparently the latter. I've never heard them referred to as keys before.'

'It's definitely a key; it allowed me access to the Forest Temple.'

'Which is where you got the medallion, but how did you get here?'

'I went through the Temple, though I had to kill a fourteen foot tall tick on the way,' she looked quite surprised as he mentioned the insect, though she voiced no questions. 'The final room in the whole place was a small hexagonal room, with only one door, and a pedestal. I was given the medallion by a Kokiri girl, who called herself an ancient Sage, she sent me here, after she confused me a bit. She said she was sending me to a person I must meet, judging by how much you know about this stuff, and the fact I appeared right next to you, I'm guessing I'm looking at her.' Her reply surprised him out of the blue.

'Do you usually dress in green?' it threw him, he wasn't usually asked questions on his wardrobe.

'Umm… usually yeah, in fact basically all the time.' She nodded as if that meant sense, which it didn't to Link.

'The next step is Death Mountain, I need to assign some people…' she trailed off from voicing her thoughts. 'Anyway I have work to do now that you're here, I imagine you're tired, there is a room ready for you.' She stood and walked over to a chest of draws, opening it she drew a blue card, similar to the one she had earlier, out of it. She handed it to Link, before walking to the door.

Outside she walked past three doorways, before stopping, and turning to Link on the third. The scanner was covered in a fine layer of dust, like it hadn't been used in a long time.

'The room is prepared for you,' how? It hadn't been entered in a fair while, 'a change of clothes is in the wardrobe if you need it.' She turned to leave, then hesitated, before speaking once more, 'I just wish you to know, I am glad you're here, even if you are a bit late,' she turned and walked down the corridor, leaving him more confused than when he arrived.

**AN/ Baddabing, chapter eight, there you are, start on the next chapter when I've got time, and remember reviews make me write quicker.**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

**AN/ Ok, so I've not been near writing for the last week, sorry about the last chapter, I realise it was kind of confusing**

The room, contrary to the scanner, was in perfect condition. It was small, and square, with sparse furnishings; a single bed pushed up against the wall, a wardrobe on the wall, a small metal chest at the foot of the bed, a desk with a lamp and swivel chair, a full length mirror on the wall, and a door leading to a bathroom with a toilet, and a shower. The first thing Link did was have a shower, getting the dirt and sweat from him, all the stuff he'd picked up on the day he'd just had.

He re-entered the bedroom in a towel wrapped around his waist, heading for the wardrobe, hoping it was stocked. He was a little weirded out by the contents.

There were six long-sleeve green shirts on a rack, with two in red, made of some material he couldn't identify, two blue with strange markings, and what looked like scales, like on a fish, in places, after this were two camouflage, two desert camouflage, two black, and two white shirts. What really got him was what hung on the racks above; there was one hat, just like the one given to him by the Kokiri, but in each of the colours of the shirts, with some sort of mask that covered the face of the wearer, attached to the blue one.

Below all of this, on top of two draws, were several pairs of neatly folded white, and cream coloured trousers, and more matching the above shirts.

Each one looked almost exactly like what he'd arrived in, in different colours. He took a green shirt, but left the hat, the hat he wore, he wore as testament to the Kokiri, to what they'd given, to what they'd sacrificed.

He opened the one of the draws, and managed to find a pair of desert camo trousers, they just felt right. He decided to keep wearing his old brown boots, scuffed and worn as they may be.

He changed quickly, fixing his sword, and shield in their rightful place, and all his various effects along his brown belt. He placed his hat on his head, and faced the full length mirror on the wall.

The farm boy he had been was barely there, the tough face had set in, emulated by his earring in his pointed ear, and the sword hilt sticking its way over his metal shoulder braces.

He strode outside; he wanted to find out where he was, not to mention what he was supposed to be doing here. The various people he passed gave him slight nods of acknowledgement. They all wore either green camo gear, the norm for Hyrulean soldiers, apart from when armoured, or white camo gear. A couple had the silver metal armour, as they stood guard at certain large doors. He eventually came to one of these doors with two armoured guards; they each held their force spears, and their defensive rectangular shields. Both nodded at him as he passed, before he stopped, he wanted to know what was on the other side of the large circular door.

He passed through, the door splitting into two parts, one sliding into each wall with a pneumatic hiss. The room beyond was small, bare except a small computer bank beneath a large rounded window, and a staircase leading down on both the left and right sides of the room.

He stepped over to the window, and what was beyond was like blew his mind.

A massive long room stretched into the distance, people milling around various crafts. There were grey, and white speeders and skiffs. There were large, grey metal boxes on caterpillar tracks, and a large turret with a huge tube sticking out. He'd only ever seen pictures, or schematics, but there about two dozen grey tanks, right there below him. After that were mobile artillery, huge eight wheeled troop transport trucks, and various mobile turrets. What really took him was what occupied about half of the room, the far end, the planes.

There were smaller one man fighters, the curved body, and flowing wings making them look like art forms. Then came the bombers, the huge fuselage holding various glass windows, and gun turrets, the huge wings holding two engines on each side. Beyond this were three of the biggest objects Link had ever seen, truly huge structures, the fuselage the size and length of two, perhaps three houses, the wings each holding four massive engines, curved to hold the flow of the wind. Along the left wall were what looked like teeth, clamping to each other had been forged into the metal, or could… that was a door, an absolutely gigantic door.

Link's mind was racing, trying to process all the information; he walked over to the stairs, descending to the floor of this mind boggling place. Black writing high on the wall, about as tall as Link himself, said in Hylian 'Hangar Five' there were four more hangars as big as this?

By the staircase were three guards in white camo, standing by a door, which looked tiny in comparison to the hangar doors that made up an entire wall. On the wall beside the men were several white coats, and jackets, all in white, not unlike the scientists' trench coats he'd seen here and there, why white? He walked over to the guards, questions brimming in his head, for instance what lay outside? He had no idea what part of Hyrule he was in anymore, or if he was even in Hyrule at all.

'What's out there then?' Link asked as he approached the guards, two cracked a smile, and the third sniggered before answering.

'What d'you think?' his tone was condescending. Link remained serious as he replied.

'You tell me.'

'What, you want to go out there?'

'Yes,' he wasn't sure why, but he did need to know where he was, to put his mind at rest. The man looked at him, sizing him up, noticing for the first time that he wasn't in a uniform, and the sword hilt poking over his shoulder. He decided something and walked over to the rack, throwing him a long white coat.

'Dan, you take him out.'

'Alright,' the second guard answered, Dan. He was young and lanky, his brown hair dipping down his forehead. Link put on the coat, which reached nearly to his knees.

'You're gonna need to take that hat off I'm afraid,' Dan told him, to which Link grudgingly put the hat in one of the coats many pockets.

'Why?' he inquired.

'Security measure, we don't want to be discovered,' Dan replied, as to how the removal of his hat helped that, Link didn't know, that is until he stepped outside, the door hissing shut behind him.

This was too much, he'd been through so many weird things this day, it wasn't fair to do this to him.

All in front of him was white. All was snow, blanketing the area, there was an instantly visible incline, leading downwards, were his line of sight was lost due to clouds and mist. He turned around to see the snow continuing upwards, inclining so, so high, right up to a summit far above where he stood. He suddenly felt really rather small, and insignificant looking at all of nature's beauty, in all its glory.

He'd never seen anything on this scale before, sure Ordon had winters, with snow falling, and the snowball fights between the village children, but this was an endless land of ice and snow. He had heard tales of mountains, which bordered the North Eastern borders of Hyrule, and the Death Mountain volcano, but to actually see it.

'Allow me to introduce Snow Peak Mountain,' Dan said somewhere to his left, sounding as awed as Link was, he supposed things on this scale never really faded from memory. He could see clear blue skies, with barely a cloud, stretching out into infinity before his eyes.

His attention was captured by a yellow light, further down the slope. He flicked his visor down, intrigued. He zoomed in, but saw nothing but snow, and ice, he shrugged and flipped it back up.

Sitting on its haunches in front of him was a glowing golden wolf; it looked like it was made of yellow light, casting no shadow, its fur shining brilliantly. The only part of it that wasn't gold were its eyes, a feral red, no whites, and a tiny iris, the left hand one was milky, with a white line running down it, they made it look angry.

Link whirled his arms around, deliberately ripping the loose coat he had tied around his shoulders like a cape, so he could draw his weapon. He stood ready, prepared in a defensive stance, his shield readied, holding his sword back a bit, prepared for an attack.

The wolf looked at him, cocking its head like a dog. Then it snarled, the snarl gripping its features, twisting into canine power, as feral display, Link didn't flinch or back down an inch. The wolf snarled again, the sound renting the air, before it leaped, with a wild grace straight at Link, he brought his sword up to defend, but the moment it touched the wolf's fur, there was a huge white flash, blinding Link.

He blinked furiously, aware he could be attacked any second. His sight returned, as he was met with an incomprehensible scene.

He was standing in a world of white, he saw things in the far distance, covered in mist, a forest, a mountain with strange shapes over it, obscured by mist, a desert of fine golden sand, a sea of water, a place with what looked like ruins, a black shape, huge but covered in so much mist he couldn't make out what it was. Beneath his feet was white cobbled stone, but he couldn't see any of it more than twenty metres away.

Around six metres in front of Link, the wolf sat on its haunches, completely at ease; it was looking straight into his eyes.

It suddenly pulled back its head and howled, Link got his eyes closed before the flash this time, but the light still pierced his eyelids, he opened his eyes to a different sight.

In front of him was what looked like a skeleton, similar to a stalfos, very similar, clad in golden armour, though there was no neck, spine to the hips, and no legs, just gold boots. It held a long sword in its right hand, and a dented circular shield in the other. The shield and various parts of its armour were covered in vines, and bits of rotted cloth, were it had decayed away. The helmet had what would have been three rectangular prongs, if one hadn't been snapped at the halfway length, in the helmet, where its head would be was a skull, slightly greyed in age, while the left eye socket was empty, the right glowed with a fierce red light, directed right at Link. Tatters of what was once a red cape hung from its shoulders, frayed, with little left.

'You have done well Hero,' the skeleton opened its mouth to speak, with a ghostly, ethereal quality, but identifiably male. 'You have made it thus far, and freed the power of the Forest,' he pointed his sword to the forest in the distance, without turning from Link. A rumbling filled the air, a huge symbol from the medallion, surrounded by wings made of stone rose from the ground forty metres away, it continued to rise on a thin shaft, before filling out to a full-fledged pillar, rearing far into the sky, all of a white stone, the three swirls were depicted in green, right at the top, barely visible.

'You are here to have a skill imparted to you, one of the hidden skills of ancient legend,' he was pulled from watching the pillar by the skeleton speaking once more.

'Who are you?' Link asked, not dropping his sword arm.

'I am known as the Hero's Shade, or the Lost Hero. I was one of those brought by the same spell that binds you. I was lost; the Goddesses took pity, and took me to do what must be done, to impart my skills to those who followed me. This I have done for many years, but this is the final time, you are the Last Hero, the future of Hyrule rests with you.'

'What do you mean, how can I hold the future?' Link asked, hoping for answers to the confusing things that had followed him all day.

'It is not my place to say. I am here to teach you the first skill, the ending blow. Once you attack an enemy, they may only be stunned. Leap forward, and plunge your sword deep into their chest to end them completely, now show me.' The Shade readied his sword, and attacked, Link instinctively battled, pushing him to the ground, before leaping to deliver the ending blow. He pulled out his sword, and stood back, to his amazement the Shade stood up.

'Well done, you learn well, the first skill, the ending blow, has been passed on. I have more skills to impart, until then,' the Shade waved his sword in the air, and the flash of light blinded Link again, caught unprepared.

He once more felt the cold air, and feel of snow underneath his boots. As his eyesight cleared, he heard voices shouting, he gained full sight to see several people in whit gear standing around staring at him, and one woman in white camo, striding towards him angrily, her blond hair whipping in the cold wind.

**AN/ Well, chapter nine, I'll start work on ten tomorrow, remember reviews make me write faster.**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

**AN/ Back again, time for a pissed Zelda, and entrance to the next Temple.**

Zelda was, to a point, royally pissed off with Link. What had seemed like a mere quarter of an hour with the Shade, had sparked off a search for him on the mountainside. He was now in private, being personally interrogated by Zelda, who hadn't really calmed down yet.

'You disappeared off a mountainside, in broad view, in a flash of light, and you say you don't know where it is you went, but you were taught some skill by someone who calls himself the Hero's Shade, do you expect me to believe that?' she was pacing up and down the floor, trying to work her anger out. 'I don't care where you went, because clearly you're making things up, I want to know how you travelled, is there something you're keeping from me?'

'No,' Link replied, annoyed that she accused _him_ of keeping things from _her_, while she obviously knew a lot, but told him nothing, 'like I told you, he sent me there, he sent me back, I did nothing. He said he had to impart the "Hidden skills of ancient legend", as he had done before by order of the Goddesses. He said he was bound by some spell that I was as well. He told me I was the last.'

'The Last Hero,' she stated quietly, stopping her pacing.

'What does it mean?' Link asked, angry at his not knowing, 'and what are you keeping from me? You asked questions about me wearing green, and Catalo said things about a "Saviour in Green" going on about legends, what's so important about what I'm wearing?'

'"The Hero, clad in green, shalt come forth, and cleanse the lands." "In time of need he shalt come, damn the rain, the wind, the sun." "He who holds the Spirit of the Hero, she who holds the blood of the Spirit Maiden, he who holds the fury of hate itself, these three are forever bound in the endless cycle till time is undone." These three have been found in ancient places, and on relics, in tombs, many passages like these, referring to one thing.

'What? What does it refer to?' he demanded. She looked at him, she looked like she wished to trust him, but experience had taught her otherwise, Link didn't know how he knew, he just did, he knew what she was like for some reason.

'This is information I do not trust you with, yet. You are soon to have the opportunity to prove yourself however, a team to accompany you is already assembled, five of our best fighters, transport has also been acquired, if you succeed, then I will tell you what you must know.' Link forced himself to calm down before replying.

'Succeed where?'

'Death Mountain. There you will find the next Temple, and as for the key, well I'm afraid that is held in the laboratories there.'

'How exactly am I supposed to get to Death Mountain?'

'Magic may be a rarity, but we can harness what we do have. We can use it to get you to the location of Old Kakariko Village, the refinery is right on top of where it used to be.'

'How?' Link stated the question again.

'Allow me to show me your teammates first.' She replied.

Zelda guided Link into what looked like an armoury, occupied by five people, three men, two women, all in desert camo gear, and light armour in important places.

'Link these are to be your teammates, they will accompany you to Death Mountain.' Link surveyed them neutrally, unsure what to feel.

'We have Lieutenant Corin Fastell,' a well built, muscled man, he had a machine gun slung over his back, and two swords on his belt, an offensive battle stylist, but very little defence if the enemy got close, he smiled his shiny teeth at Link as Zelda mentioned him his blond crew-cut dipping as he nodded respectfully.

'Captain Ashlei Caine,' a young woman, subtlety muscled arms with two long braids of her black hair continuing far down her chest. She cradled a staff with small double axe heads at each end, they looked electrified, a converted force spear? There was a sniper's rifle slung over her shoulder, a long sword on her right hip, with a pistol on her left, a series of small knives and ammunition were on a belt that ran from her left shoulder, to right hip, a very well prepared individual.

'Call me Ash,' she said, reaching a hand forward to shake Link's, her dark eyes studying him.

'Corporal James Raman,' black skinned, shaved head, heavily muscled, tribal tattoo on his right bicep. He had a machine gun on his hip, and he held a double sided sword of some description, with a large two handed hilt to accompany the two blades, an odd weapon, the two weapons were all he carried barring a curved hunting knife in his belt.

'A pleasure to meet you,' he said in a heavy accent.

'This is Captain Anjou Keara,' Zelda gestured to a less muscled man, with weather beaten skin, slim and in his forties, a little grey showing in his black beard. He held in his right hand a Gatling gun, the ammunition chain draped over his shoulders, beyond which was slung what looked like a thin bazooka, on two belts from his shoulders to his hips were several small black egg shapes with pins in, grenades, and a few large pockets with wires sticking out. A machine pistol was holstered on each hip; this guy was definitely a heavy weapons specialist.

'Nice to meet you,' the guy dropped the handle of the Gatling gun to the floor, and reached out a cybernetic right hand for a handshake, the cool metal feeling odd against Link's skin.

'And finally Lieutenant Jan Gheran,' the final person, was a slim woman with light brown skin, and short spiky brown hair, that glinted red in the light, she had odd yellow eyes that pierced through Link, the only acknowledgement she gave was a slight nod, not speaking. She had two blaster pistols strapped to her belt, one on each hip, next to two short, curved katana blades, very up close and personal blades, and far easier to defend with than two full, straight swords. Two ammunition bands ran past her shoulders to her hips, with several throwing knives stuck in. On her back were two machine guns, not really short of weapons, an all-rounder person.

This was an all-round team, someone for everything, where did Link fit into this? Still help would be good, useful.

'Now,' Zelda started, turning to Link again, 'if you could give me your headset, there are some modifications needed, and then you are free to take anything from this armoury.' Link clutched protectively at his headset, but at Zelda's raised eyebrow handed it over.

As she left with his headset Anjou spoke up.

'So, what's the full brief, we're breaking into Death Mountain, what then?'

'I'm not sure,' Link started awkwardly, realising just how little he knew, 'we need to get into some labs and find something, a key, and then we're going into the Mountain itself, to the Temple.' This raised some murmurs from them, except Jan, who remained impassive.

Link started looking round the armoury, the various weapons gracing the walls, guns by the dozen, spears, swords, everything he could ever think of, and more things he didn't recognise, seeing as the team was already equipped, he decided to pick up a few things. He drew a machine pistol from a rack, strapping it and its holster to his hip, and taking an ammunition belt, slinging it from his right shoulder to his left hip. He took a few grenades, little black things that fitted perfectly in the palm of his hand. He stuffed a few into his pouches, and hooked some on his ammo belt. He also found a pair of metal braces, meant for protecting archer's wrists, he took them, figuring they'd make it harder for someone to disarm him at the hilt of his sword.

His teammates watched him carefully selecting equipment, while each was absorbed in their own thoughts.

'You say we're heading inside the Temple inside Death Mountain, that is after we've broken into incredibly secure laboratories, and broken out again, what exactly are we doing this for?' Ashlei's voice was calculating, like she didn't like the odds, which Link did have to agree with.

'We'll be heading into the deepest part of the Temple, where we'll find something like this,' he replied, turning round and bringing out the green Medallion of the Forest. All of their eyes widened, before he put it away again.

'How are we getting there?' Anjou spoke up.

'That is something I don't know,' was Link's reply.

'That is right here.' Zelda's voice came from the doorway, she was holding Link's headset, it looked like a slim thing had been added above his communicator. She threw it to him, whence he caught it, and replaced it on his head.

'The modifications have put you on our frequency, and made it un-hackable. Plus we changed the camera option you have, it's recording right now, and sending the information to the ops room upstairs, we'll be able to see and hear everything you're doing.' She also handed out several small bird shaped devices to everyone else, which they all put on their ears, extending a small mike on a wire to their mouths; communicators, they'd all be able to talk with the people here and each other if they were separated. She then drew something small and light blue from her coat, handing it to Link.

'I part with this grudgingly, it is an old artefact of great magical ability, handed down through my family through countless generations, but it is the best way to get you to Death Mountain quickly.'

'This is an ocarina,' Link stated, this was a child's plaything, a simple instrument that you blew into the put your fingers over one of the seven holes to make the right sound.

'It is the Ocarina of Time. It will transport you to where Old Kakariko Village used to be with the first melody, the second will take you to the Death Mountain crater, I propose you put this on.' She handed him the odd red shirt, and hat which he'd seen in his wardrobe that morning, he pulled off his shirt, displaying his light black body armour, and put on the oddly made shirt, still unable to define what it was made of. He also switched hats, shoving his real one into a pouch around his waist.

'Why?' he asked.

'The material, like their desert gear, will keep the heat out, stopping you from sweating, or dehydrating in Death Mountain, it's designed for the desert,' that explained why the others were in desert gear.

She took from her trouser pocket a small screen, touching and moving icons on it with her finger, some sort of mini computer, he was about to ask what the two songs for the ocarina were when a melody filled the room. It was dark, and sombre, solemn, and respectful. It described death, it symbolised it. The music was just eight notes, so he didn't know quite how he got all that from so little. A few seconds passed, then a second piece played, a quick, forceful tune of eight notes again, it spoke of fire, of power.

'The Nocturne of Shadow, and the Bolero of Fire, remember them well. Now play the Nocturne and be on your way.'

Link, slightly doubtfully, put the ocarina to his lips, and played the dark piece. On the last note a purple light filled the space containing him and his comrades, completely obscuring the world from their sight, when it cleared they stood in a dark stone cave, on a white stone slab, a golden Triforce carved in beneath their feet, underneath a purple circle, with a small triangle in the middle, surrounded by three circles, that seemed to be sucking the purple light in, until only sparks remained.

Around the cave were various black banks of equipment, screens, and computers, and scanners, pointing at the slab they stood on, and at a solid grey stone wall behind them, with the Triforce and bird symbol he'd seen before carved on it, that was the door to a Temple, but he sensed not the Temple they were looking for.

By the computers was what looked like a boulder, with carved ridges into it, the boulder turned to show the hard yellow skin of a Goron, a race he'd seen once before when a trader and traveller came through Ordon. The Goron had a black cybernetic implant on the right hand side of his face, the black metal covering his eye, where a deep red glow emitted from instead, around him his team unsheathed their weapons, confusing Link, until the Goron stuck his huge arms out straight in front of him, and started walking towards the group.

'Here we go again,' Link said under his breath as he drew his sword and shield.

**AN/ Ten chapters all done, around 20,000 words now, not doing that badly, next chapter see Gorons, Darknuts, and the Fire Temple, please review.**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

**AN/ Ok, it's been a while, two months or something, I've been, busy, and I recently meant to pick this up again, but was stopped by the fact I was stuck on an island off Cape Clear, with no electricity. Anyway, sorry I kind of deserted, but I am back now.**

Still not knowing why the Goron would attack, Link charged with his fellows, he rolled around the Goron's legs, noticing how stiff, and fixed they were, he was about to slash at his back, when he realised what he was doing; this wasn't some monster, some evil thing that deserved to die, this was a real person, he couldn't take this guy's life. However his teammates didn't share his opinion.

Bullets were firing, and bouncing off the Goron's tough exterior, suddenly he stumbled slightly, then started to fall back, right on Link, he rolled, darting out of the way just in time.

He saw Jan standing, looking impassively down at the body in front of her; she held only one of her katanas, crimson blood dripping from the end of the blade's curved edge, the other embedded in the Goron's eyepiece, pointing its handle right up. Anger started to claw at Link.

'How could you? That was a real person, you just killed him!' Link exclaimed, unable to contain his feelings. She stared at him oddly, like one would at a child who'd asked a stupid question. **(AN/ "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.")**

'Have you not killed monsters before?' she spoke with a thick accent, one he'd never heard before.

'Of course, but those are monsters, he was innocent, he was…'

'Already dead,' interrupted Anjou, 'or near as makes no difference.'

'What are you talking about?' Link demanded, still angry.

'The eyepiece, it controls,' Jan said in her heavy accent, drawing her sword out of said implant.

The eyepiece curled in black metal down the Goron's neck, various lights winking out as it ceased working, the red light still flickered weakly were the eye used to be, before dying completely.

'Gorons have always been good with machines, and computers, about a decade ago they started implanting those in their heads, meaning they could access their mainframes, and computers directly from their brain.' Anjou explained calmly, with regret in his voice, 'it was a massive fad, they all had one, unfortunately when he took over, Ganondorf realised the connection could work both ways. He used their own computers to take them over, forcing them into his own cybernetic minions, a method he used later on the Darknuts.'

What he said angered Link, that this man, who dared call himself King, had stolen these people's most precious thing, their free will, he looked down at the dead Goron again, and felt pity for this person who hadn't know what he was doing, and now lay dead. He closed his eyes and calmed the anger burning in his system, this was another thing that Ganondorf would pay for.

'We need to move,' said Ashlei, bringing Link back to the world, they were underneath a base controlled by Ganondorf, they couldn't afford to do stuff like this. 'We need to find the main laboratories, I studied the original plans for the compound, they should be located below ground level. We need to move quickly, the main computer will notice that that guy's gone offline, we've got to find this key and get the Hell out of here.'

'Right, now let's go,' Corin said, moving to the tunnel entrance. Everyone followed behind him, recognizing the need for urgency.

The tunnels were all tubes, leading off, occasionally having one branch off in other directions, but they stuck to the main path, sloping upwards, eventually they reached a pair of metal hydraulic doors.

'This is it,' Zelda's voice sounded in his ear, he'd forgotten she was watching everything, 'try to keep down, and not get noticed.'

James reached forward, and pressed the button on the keypad next to the door, they swished open with a slight hiss, leading to two bare metal corridors, leading away at a right angle to each other, a sign at the start of each one had arrows and names, such as 'Research and Development', 'Weapons Testing', and 'Magical Experimentation'.

'I say we head to Magical Experimentation, that sounds our best bet,' Ashlei said, pointing down the right hand corridor.

Link's brain knew she was right, but some part of him just thought that Weapons Testing was where they needed to be; unfortunately this was down the left hand corridor, the opposite direction.

'I agree with Ashlei, that sounds most likely,' voiced Corin.

'Actually I think we should go to Weapons Testing,' said Link, faltering a little as each head turned to him.

'That is in completely the wrong direction,' Ashlei said, her expression incredulous. 'Besides why would a key be in the weapons zone?' she continued.

'It just is.' Link replied, utterly certain.

'That's not a reason, besides you're just a kid, why should we listen to you? I don't even know why you're here.' She argued.

'He's there because he's the reason this mission is happening in the first place,' Zelda's voice sounded, Link presumed to everyone, 'and you're going to Weapons Testing, so hurry up, we haven't the time to argue.' The order was sounded, and clear, Ashlei looked at him, with a glare that said 'We'll finish this later.'

They all set off at a quick jog down the corridor, following the signs to the Weapons Testing, thankfully not meeting anyone on the way, it seemed this was a secure part of the facility.

They eventually turned a corner to a double steel door, next to it was a huge palm scanner, with prongs for three massive fingers, and a thumb. How they were going to get through this Link had no idea, yet he felt that what they sought was beyond this door.

'What can we do about the lock?' Corin voiced the question everyone had.

'We can't break through that without setting off every alarm in the building.' Said Ashlei, looking right at Link.

'Well then, we need to do it quickly,' Anjou spoke from the back of the group, reaching into a pocket with his robotic arm, to bring out a lump of circuit boards and wire, around some kind of putty. 'Go behind the corner, I'll set this up.' They all retreated around the safety of the metal wall; Anjou joined them seconds later, followed shortly by a 'Whumpf', and after that a loud piercing siren that echoed through the corridors.

They walked around the corner to a mass of clearing smoke, and the two doors hanging off their hinges, one falling even as they looked on, both severely battered, burnt, and bent out of shape, Anjou certainly knew what he was doing.

'I didn't say that you had to blow the bloody doors off.' Said Ashlei, a little sarcastically.

'There's no time for jokes, get in there and find the key before they find you.' Zelda's voice of reason sounded, the sound of wisdom bells.

They hurried inside, to a long room with pedestals for weapons, and a target at varying distances in front of them. Link immediately saw what he was looking for, on a pedestal in the centre of the long room, was what looked like a large, chunky, half-finished blaster, with some gold sticking out of the top.

He ran over to it, it looked like nothing he'd seen before, like a thin blaster, with half a bow on each side, it looked like a modernised crossbow. On the top, slanting along the barrel next to the handle, was an upside down golden V-shape, Link put his hand over it, and released the clasp holding it down, he pulled out a ruby attached to its golden setting, exactly the same as Zelda's picture, the others stared at the stone, feeling the aura of power, different to the emerald's, it reflected strength, and a fiery power, he could almost hear the sounds of picks smashing on rocks in a bygone age.

'That doesn't look like a key to me.' Said Ashlei doubtfully.

'Trust that it is,' came Zelda's disembodied voice, 'now, play the Bolero of fire, and get out of there. Take the gun with you, if it harnesses the power of the ruby, it could be very useful.'

Link dropped the gem back into its setting in the barrel, clicking the clasp in place, before hefting the surprisingly light weapon, it felt right in his hands, his palm fitting perfectly into the handle, the length of the weapon fitting in the crook of his arm.

He pulled himself from those thoughts, attaching the gun to his hip, opposite the machine pistol he'd picked up earlier. As he pulled the ocarina from a pouch around his waist, there came the sounds of heavy marching feet, not wishing to meet the owners, Link quickly played the powerful melody, watching as red light surrounded the six of them, pulling away the scene.

As the light faded into the ground, their new surroundings revealing themselves, Link almost wished he was back at the lab again. They stood on another stone pedestal, this time with a red circle, with an angled flame symbol, over another golden Triforce, around them was dirty, ruddy rock, and beyond the small island they stood on, a massive lake of bubbling, boiling lava, dribbling down the humongous walls of the cavern they stood in, reaching high up into the sky, where the top part of this conical shape was open to the elements.

'I thought Death Mountain was dormant,' said Corin, sounding awed, and rightly so.

'Apparently not,' replied Anjou.

'Never have I seen such a thing,' said James, who was clutching his double-bladed sword tightly.

Jan remained impassive, but she still looked about at their surroundings, seeing what they did not.

'There,' she said, pointing at the ground behind them, grey stone brick stairs led into the ground, Link recognized the style well.

Link flicked the torch on his visor on, knowing they'd need the light, wanting to descend quickly as, even with the new red clothes; he was sweating, and overheating like mad in the volcano crater.

'Here we go,' he said, taking the lead, as they descended into the darkness.

**AN/ Phew, while since I knocked off a chapter, made loads of typing mistakes as I went. Will try to update soon, reviews make me write faster.**


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